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Kitsap County school district seeking protection order against community member

KITSAP COUNTY, Wash. — A school district in Kitsap County is seeking a Protection Order against a “community member” after anonymous and threatening letters were repeatedly sent to the district and schools throughout the course of a year.

An attorney representing South Kitsap School District says the district received 18 letters from August 2016 to October 2017 that were “violent, vulgar and disturbing in nature.”

Attorney Mike Patterson said a handwriting expert was able to link the letters to Larry Mann, an elderly man living in Port Orchard.

A letter received on Sept. 25 reads, “All you all is a pit of rattlesnakes that needs to be lynched.”

A month before that, the district received a letter saying, “if all the education people were killed, their brains would fill a coffee can.”

The letters, which were typed, were signed by “Texas Mama” or “Prince of Darkness.” While the letters were typed, the enveloped were addressed to the district by hand, according to Patterson.

He says, a handwriting expert linked the envelopes to handwritten letters Mann had written to school officials in the past.

One of the latest letters received on Oct. 10 said, “this mama is waiting to rip your throats out,” Patterson said. While it’s unusual for a school district to seek protection orders against members of the community, in this case the attorney felt it was necessary.

“Parents are very, very upset and concerned,” he said, “Mann wanted to get the names of all the students attending schools. A judge found that very disturbing in nature.”

Mann claims the letters were sent to him and that he just passed them along to the school district, officials said.

The hearing for the protective order will take place in Kitsap County next Friday, Oct. 27.

Port Orchard police also opened an investigation. Patterson says, federal authorities may get involved since the letters were sent through the U.S. Postal Service.

KIRO 7 made contact with Larry Mann over the phone, who didn’t want to provide a comment.

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